Jean Passerat invented the Villanelle. This is a poem that consists of a pattern of only two rhymes, and is marked most distinctively by its alternating refrain, which appears initially in the first and third lines of the opening tercet. In all, it comprises five tercets and a concluding quatrain. (Rios) This form of poetry is reminiscent of French rustic songs hence it was very popular during its time. (Rios) Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas is an example of a villanelle and the subject tackled in this particular poem is the subject of death, and the theme is trying to conquer death with things that one does when heshe is alive.
The good night in Thomas poem is taken to mean death itself and taking into consideration the villanelle form of poetry, he repeated refrains in the poem are, Do not go gentle into that good night (1, 6, 12, 18) and Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (3, 9, 15, 19) The villanelle form of the poem, however, does not stop the poet from using one other poetic device in its creation, and this is what is known to the literary community as cataloguing or enumeration. The poem, when read, simply enumerates the things that people must do to be able to conquer death with the things that they do while they are still alive. On the other hand, the poem also outlines the consequences of certain things that a person does during his lifetime on his eventual death. In effect, the poem is a poem about legacy and what one will leave behind after death. The poem also takes on a pleading tone in relation to the final quatrain which refers to the father of the voice.
The matter of legacy is clearly suggested in the five tercets of the poem which suggest that to conquer death or to not go gently into the good night or to rage against the dying of the light wise men need to accept that they would not make a legacy if not for what they say, hence, dark is right when their words had forked no lightning (4-5) good men leave legacies through their charitable deeds, hence dancing in a green bay (8) wild men leave no legacies because of their aggressive nature, thus they learn, too late, they grieved it on its way (11) and grave men learn to be indifferent with death, so they see with blinding sight (14). In effect, what the poem does is it chronicles what different types of men should and should not do to be able to conquer death by leaving a legacy. The enumeration of these things serve a singular purpose and that is for the voice of the poem to be able to take on a didactic bent when addressing hisher father who is mentioned in the final quatrain. It is assumed here that the father is at the threshold of death hence, the voice takes on the responsibility of explaining to hisher father that death can be conquered. Initially, in the first five tercets, the voice presents examples. This is typical of the tone of the poem because the voice is trying to convince the father to either be like the men mentioned or to not follow their examples to be able to exist beyond death. So, in the final quatrain, the voice urges the father to learn from the examples of the men mentioned but also to avoid the things that have been done before that resulted to death being able to devour the existence of the person. (16-19) Taking the final quatrain into more scrutinizing consideration we notice that in the first two lines, And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray (16-17) the voice validates what is initially assumed to be the pleading tone of the poem. In these first two lines of the final quatrain the voice, noticing that the father is too proud to listen to what he is saying, hence, the phrase, there on the sad height, the voice proceeds to express hisher indifference of over whatever the reaction of the father may be. This reaction is implied in the phrase, now, with your fierce tears, I pray suggesting that with what the voice had been saying the father would not be pleased but despite this assumption, the voice still persists in urging the father to take heed of what had already been said and resolve not to die without leaving behind a legacy.
Reflecting on the poem we can easily visualize many children looking up to their fathers and being disappointed in the end, not because of how the father treats them but because the father is often contented with his children as his legacies. However, this is only true in the immediate family and as human beings it is human nature to want to leave our mark in this world before we pass on. The concern of the voice in the poem about hisher father being able to leave behind a legacy after death is commendable and selfless because many children would often be more preoccupied with making something out of their lives instead of wasting time on trying to figure out what one of their family members could do so that the world will remember himher by. Reading the poem we can easily conclude that the voice in the poem loved the father so much that heshe simply did not want the father to just fade away and not leave something behind for the world to remember.
Poetry is indeed an effective means of conveying and bringing out emotions from the readers and the poet achieves this in many ways, mostly through literary devices. The art or poetry, however, is not merely the conveyance of emotion, more importantly it is the conveyance of an emotion that is real enough to have been felt by the writer of the poem.
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